With the string of tropical storms and other devastating flooding, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer on Wednesday argued that now is not time to reduce the number of gauges that monitor river and lake levels.

About 8,000 gauges operate nationwide, with 200 gauges in New York State and 31 in the Capital Region. The gauges, which annually cost $16,000 each to maintain, are annual targets for federal budget cutters. Schumer equated this cost to the old adage “a stitch in time saves nine.”

Gauges are used to predict, prevent and respond to flooding, but also provide insight into weather patterns, which helps in infrastructure planning.

Schumer urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to support President Obama’s proposed budget for 2014, which would increase the National Streamgauge Information Program’s budget to $36.2 million, up by $7.3 million from 2012. He also supports a $400,000 increase in the United States Geological Service Cooperative Water Program budget to $63 million. This would add 300 stream gauges nationally, a number of which Schumer said he hopes to see installed in New York.

Schumer is also urging FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to declare some upstate counties hit by damaging floods as federal disaster areas, making them eligible for federal aid. Among the communities hit hard by flooding over the past two weeks was Fort Plain, where dozens of businesses were heavily damaged and one woman was swept to her death.